WVU ranked No. 22 in pre-season AP Poll

The Tigers are No. 12 with a total of 880 points in the AP preseason top 25 poll released Monday, narrowly missing a top 10 start to the season behind No. 10 Oklahoma State (889 points) and No. 11 MI (881).

The Bulldogs are the highest ranked SEC East team, two spots ahead of No. 17 Florida.

Other SEC teams ranked: No. 12 Auburn, No. 13 LSU and No. 25 Tennessee. Ohio State is No. 2 and is a favorite to win the Big Ten, Florida State is No. 3 with the second-most first-place votes and USC is fourth. A year earlier, it was No. 9 in the preseason, but was unranked to end the season despite a 10-3 record.

Oklahoma State drew a preseason ranking for the fifth time in the past seven seasons, which is the best stretch in program history. Florida State did it 11 seasons in a row (1990-2000).

Starting the season ranked in the top 20 is familiar territory for the Georgia football team the past five years.

Alabama also was No. 1 in the preseason coaches' poll. His development will be critical against Alabama, which has won four of the past eight national titles, and throughout the season for a program that has championship aspirations of its own but will be replacing star running back Dalvin Cook.

Additionally, of its 59 appearances in the AP preseason poll, 41 have seen OU ranked seventh or higher.

The Tigers will face three of those teams this season - LSU on October 14, Georgia on November 11 and Alabama on November 25 - as well as defending national champion and No. 5-ranked Clemson at Memorial Stadium on November 9.

Sitting there at the top is, to no one's surprise, Alabama.

Fifty-two of 61 media members voted to put Alabama at No. 1 for this season's poll.

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